The Arrogance of Man
by falciatore1669
Summary: On an epic journey, The Sage of the Six Path meet the Truth that will oblige him to make an exchange. Now, stuck in an alien world, Hagoromo Otsu-tsuki will travel to Amestris breaking the balance of power and the equivalent exchange.
1. Clash and meeting with God

**Hello! this is my fist Fanfiction.**

**Dislaimer: I don't own Naruto nor Fullmetal Alchemist. All characters were taken from the original works belong to ther creators, Masashi Kishomoto and Hiromu Arakawa.**

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**The Arrogange of Man**

by Falciatore1669

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The young monk stared down at the beast that was once the sacred God-tree. _Shinju_ it was called._ God-Tree_, most litteraly. And the world tree also, _Yaggdrasil_, and the tree of the forbidden fuit_ Cheit Eitz HaDa't _or_ Eden_. It's the origin of chakra and supposed shaper of the world that once towered over the clouds themselves in the centre of the lands. it united _Yin_ and _Yang_, heaven and heart, death and life, dark and light, and the living eath was it's trone. It showed how truly tiny and insignificant mankind was in comparison to the gods themselves. It was the same tree that fathered the fruit his mother picked and ate from, acquiring the unlimited power to put an end to the incessant wars between the nations of men. Thanks to the efforts of his mother Kaguya Otsu-tsuki, those very same wars stopped.

Men, women and children started to gather to in order to give thanks, celebrate and worship the same woman that was once human, like many others, and was now a Goddess of peace, like a beacon of light to the people. However the real miracle his mother Kaguya performed was not from the power of the sacred tree, but the determination and resolve to protect her people from the pain and suffering caused by war. Because despite the rumours, Kaguya was a true human and her courage was her greatest strength.

Yet, despite their efforts, where there is light and love there is also darkness that stands back in the shadows and when the secret of his mother's power was unveiled, many fools tried to steal the sacred energy of the God-tree. Promises like omnipotence and immortality led the arrogant to quite possibly the biggest disaster of all time.

The earthly gods were infuriated by the arrogance of man, even though the tree had already shared his fruit, the insects were back and like parasites they tried to steal its sap. And now with the shape of a leviathan with ten tails and his all-seeing eye, he spread his punishment. Death and destruction on an apocalyptic scale crushed the nations. Nothing could even scratch the divine beast, the armies fell no matter how large and the defensive walls crumbled uselessly no matter how resistant.

Once again humanity was faced with problems caused by their own sin, and once again someone had to bear that weight and become a saviour. Thanks to the power given by his mother by birth, Hagoromo Otsu-tsuki was called upon to chase away the beast and restore order. His spiritual art and monk's doctrine made him widely known as the wandering sage, and later the six different expressions of his power gave him the name of the legendary Sage of the Six Paths

"Ruuagh!" The man swung up his palm and unleashed an incredible wave of pure gravitational force that held back the enormous claws of the Juubi. The indomitable physical strength of the monster could divide mountains and forced the Sage to ready his chakra in order to wear down the creature.

The next move was intended to unbalance the creature and in doing so gain him time. "Shinra Tensei!" the power of the great blast knocked the Juubi over onto his right side, creating a huge blast of air as the rippling shockwave crushed any trees nearby that were still standing, leaving it helpless for just a second, its tails were moving furiously like massive whips through the air and his horrible red eye with nine encircling tomoe watched with fury as the insects tried to trap it with great chains made from the most durable metal known at the time.

"Hurry up with those chains! Restrain his arms! Don't allow it to move again!" An army general cried to his men while other factions were desperately trying to shackle the monolithic body, the tails and the movement of Juubi.

Hagoromo watched the progress of the last army remaining after the ongoing massacres humanity had suffered, an army made up of almost everybody able, including farmers, traders and even teenagers alongside the veteran soldiers. The situation was desperate for all of mankind, despite Hagoromo continued attempts to subdue the beast or appease its anger, the Juubi continued to struggle and fight for its crusade of destruction.

At this point the sage came to the only possible solution to put an end to this chaos, to seal the beast inside him. The seal was his masterpiece, given the urgency of the situation, Hagoromo worked without sleep for days to create the seal's array in order to hold the beast's infinite chakra. However, to work the Juubi had to remain motionless until the end of the process. It was a large gamble, but the lives of his friends and loved ones depended on it.

"We are ready Hagoromo-sama!" Shouted a soldier from one of the six Divisions in charge of holding down the legs and tails of the monster. Soldiers coordinated with each other in the maximum efficiency as the giant, iron-reinforced chains were impaled deep into the ground or connected with gigantic columnar frameworks which acted as anchors, preventing the Juubi's limbs from moving.

"Good! Now I will start the sealing process so tell your soldiers to hold on until the very end!" The general quickly nodded and fell back to the rear of the formation. Metal, machine and sheer brute force of the soldiers forced the Juubi to kneel temporarily whilst the beast roared, fruitlessly trying to escape from its binding chains. Without wasting any more time Hagoromo began to run through the long and complex chain of hand-seals, chakra beginning to mix and mould within him to be gradually expelled from the coils of his system, taking form of a vibrant purple mist that enshrouded him.

Noting the potent chakra that slowly began to saturate the air around it, the Juubi began to squirm violently, letting out a roar so powerful that made the earth shake and the huge chains begin to fail under the incredible pressure. "Everybody hold still!" Commanded the General as some chains snapped with dull metallic cracks while elsewhere some unfortunates were thrown away by the enormous shock wave.

"Hagoromo the chains won't last much longer!" Hideyoshi, a childhood friend of the Sage and chief of the third division, shouted to his friend, his heavy armour made of red, interlocking metal plates distinguishing him from the lighter, more common soldier. He was a young man with a common brown eyes and hair the opposite of his Sagely friend, which was a more noticeable silvery-gray, and his legendary purple doujutsu.

"I'm almost done Hideyoshi, tell your men to fall back!" Hideyoshi immediately repeated the command to all the soldiers in the area to fall back to the rear; now it was all in the hands of his friend. When the soldiers where all at a safe distance from the battle he could only put his hands together in a short prayer and hope that the Gods were on their side.

The purple haze of chakra had begun to surround the entire battlefield. Hagoromo clasped his hands together to start the final portion of the technique. "Fuinjutsu: Rinne Chēnsei no keiyaku!" The mist began to take physical form as enormous purple chains, fit for the Gods themselves to hold; the chains dug into the flesh of the beast that immediately roared in pain from the sudden intrusion of foreign chakra.

The wise man gave one last look at what was once the divine tree, in a way he understood its rage toward men. Avarice and an unquenchable thirst for power led humanity to turn away from the mother-like being that once protected them. No one could claim to be free from such desires, not even himself, admittance to the contrary was pure arrogance.

"I'm sorry that it came to this… I can understood your anger toward us." said Hagormo "…but" He strengthened his gaze up at the eye of the Juubi as the beast noticed him, turning it's great stare towards the tiny man. Purple-rimmed eyes focused intently on the giant red eye with nine tomoe spinning around madly." I cannot let you destroy this world ... killing million of innocents with it; however I swear on you that I will lead my brothers and sisters in a better path to the best of my ability. That I promise you."

With that, Hagoromo completed the last step of the technique. The chakra chains began to rip all the power of the Bijuu, separating it from the body. Like a tsunami all the chakra of the Juubi was channelled into the body of the sage of the six paths leaving the Tailed Beast nothing more than a mere shell of flesh. For a moment, the monk sage was overwhelmed by the immense amount of chakra compressed in his body which in the meantime had undergone a distinct change.

'_Incredible … is this the power of the Juubi's chakra?'_ The sensation was indescribable, he was …fine, better than ever, all the pain and the scars from his body vanished like they were never there to begin with and he had now two long horns on his forehead. The beast however was in bad shape, its body is shrunken to anorexic proportions while it struggled to stay on its feet.

The tailed beast was now overflowing with rage, its eye focused on the man that dared to steal its power. Now, its mind had lost all thoughts other than disintegrate the arrogant insect "**GRRWWOOOOOOOHH!**" Using every ounce of nature chakra that remained, the Tailed Beast started to generate a colossal bijudama that darkened the sky even as its body continued to wither away.

"Even without your chakra you still have that kind of power in you?" That worried the sage a little, he believed that without its chakra the God-tree would calm down or at least be stopped. Seeing no other choice Hagoromo clapped his hands together, focusing on his Deva path and his new resource of chakra . From the palms of his hands he generated a small dark sphere of energy that he quickly launched into the sky.

"Chibaku Tensei!" The sheer gravitational force of the tiny sphere began to attract anything and everything in its radius. The nearby mountains began to crumble upwards and the earth itself began to collapse towards the tiny ball. Debris began to pile up, creating a giant stone ball. Unable to maintain the control amongst the destruction, the bijudama simply dissipated into the air harmlessly as the Juubi lost adherence with the ground and even it started to be attracted by the primordial force of the universe

The body of the Juubi was incorporated by the newly formed planetary body and began to leave the earth's atmosphere. Hagoromo, affected by the aftermath of the incredibly Jutsu, fell wearily to the ground, he heard the screams of delight from his companions and let a small smile grow on his face.

The prison of the God shined brightly in the night sky, gently lighting the ground in its silvery glow, he was surprised how beautiful the new celestial body was. It seemed shaped by the hands of the gods of the night when it was really just the result of his technique. Hagoromo thought about it and decided to give it a name. "From now on it will be called …Tsuki"

That night, in the waning moments of the most legendary battle in human history, Hagoromo allowed himself to be carried away by the bliss of sleep, too tired to notice that the chakra inside him began to fidget incorrectly.

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The first thing that he felt was the sense of being lost in the 'abnormal white world around him; everywhere he allowed his eyes to rest he could could see the lack of detail; there was no wind, horizon or even ground. The strangest thing was that he had no idea how he got here.

It did not feel like a genjutsu since his and the Juubi's chakra flowed normally, every illusory technique forced the chakra in the victim to move erratically and his eyes could see through anything. So, discarding the first hypothesis Hagoromo began to scrutinize with is purple-rimmed eyes the alien world around him in order to catch the slightest presence of chakra; however finding none he began to draw, perhaps, the only possible solution.

"Am I dead?" Thought the sage.

"_Hey!_"

A voice took him by surprise in the vastness of the absolute white. It took a few second as he turning around to realize That a person, or what seems like a person, had appeared out of nowhere. Rinnegan eyes glanced over to the white humanoid in front of him; whatever it was did not have chakra. On the other hand, his eyes caught a strange aura of energy that he did not recognize.

"Who are you?" Asked the sage.

"_That, is an interesting question_." Said Truth. "_I'm what you humans call "the World". And olso knows as the "Universe", and "God", and "the Truth", and "All of it", and "None of it_" Stated the Truth matter-of-factly.

"_And_-" A hand was raised and pointed a single finger to the monk "_I'm also …yourself_."

Despite his initial confusion, it did not take much for Hagoromo to understand that hestood in front of a deity of some sort, in a place which he should not be.

"_Welcome, foolish one who has lost his way home._" there was a large, slow omious creak behind him. Suddenly he felt a shiver down his spine; turning, he saw a portal open to reveal an eye similar to the Rinnegan staring at him intensely. From the darkness came hands that clung to his clothes with the intent to drag him into the void. Trying to fight, his chakra suddenly throbbed inside his body before a malevolent red eye with nine tomoe opened from his abdomen.

He swore that he saw the eye behind the door widen in surprise, the hands that held him by force, dissolving into thin air as the portal closed itself. Hagoromo blinked once, then twice and when he returned his gaze to the deity he saw it grin with… amusement?

"_I see you have a tenant ... an interesting one at tha_t." Truth watched the man with newly kindled interest, it was not every day that neighbours come to visit him.

The wise man stiffened, waiting for any kind of trick from the deity.

"_Relax human. You don't belong to my domain, so I don't have jurisdiction over you_." Spoke the Truth, raising his hands in defence, however his grin never left his face.

The Sage remained on alert anyway as he began to analyze his situation, having no idea where he was and how he got to this place; the only thing that was certain was that he was trapped here with that being He figured he had better start asking some questions.

"Can you tell me what this place is?" Asked the Sage, straining his voice to remain as polite as possible.

"_You came from very far away...and I think it's the first time I've seen someone from the other side of __that__ portal._" The humanoid remained in his seat, seemingly oblivious to the very presence of Hagoromo, but the wise man had the impression that it was scrutinizing him all the same.

"What do you mean?" Asked the monk to the Truth but the God chose not to answer, preferring to remain silent instead.

Seeing that he would not get any kind of response from the being, Hagoromo thought long and hard about his words, things like "domain" and "other side" turned about in his head as he came to a conclusion.

"You said that I lost my way home ... then that means that I do not belong here right?"

"_Yes_" This lifted him up a bit, the last thing he remembered was his victory against the Tailed Beast and falling asleep from the exhaustion; he also felt rather alive so perhaps this was not the other world. But then the main problem was that he was here and not on earth.

"Can you help me get back?"

"_Why should I? you were the one to get here, and you'll be the one to leave._" The humanoid casually replied before returning to his silence, mocking the ignorance of the monk.

The Sage couldn't help but frown; the being did not seem to want to help even though his world was in ruins from the escalation of the Juubi. After undergoing so much effort to seal its body in the moon and the chakra inside himself he was now stuck in this limbo. Hagoromo closed his eyes, breathed a sigh to calm down and took a meditative position. If the deity had nothing to do with his arrival, then he must have brought himself here unconsciously, the only thing certain was that it would take a lot before he can figure something out.

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How long was he in the room of nothingness, simply meditating? Not having even the sun to orient himself Hagoromo had soon lost track of time. Had an hour passed? Two hours? A whole day? The monk had tried everything he knew from yin-yang manipulation to the ten-tails' chakra, but in truth he had no idea where to start, the most likely option is that some kind of space-time technique brought him here but since he did not know the exact makings of such a technique there was a strong possibility that he would be stuck here forever.

The monk sighed heavily and cast out the unproductive, negative thoughts. He glanced at the humanoid self-proclaimed deity, noting that it has not moved an inch; it was still sitting on the infinite white floor like some kind of statue. After denying him any form of help it had not spoken or moved since but even though it didn't have a face the monk suspected that it was looking directly at him since his arrival. He shrugged and went back to gently manipulating the flow of his chakra.

Truth was not easily impressed, but this human intrigued him and it was not just the fact that it seemed to have been excluded from the equivalent exchange or that he carried a minor deity in his stomach, even if they were strong points, but the fact that he continued to ignore its presence. Since he passed the door he did not ask anything from the Truth except to help him get back home.

Many come so far trying to override the laws that rule the world, steal his powers or bring the dead to life, those humans were arrogant ants and swiftly received their punishment. However until now nobody really bothered him like this monk, he could challenge him using the gifts of the lesser god as anyone else would do, but instead he left them, manipulating his energy and trying to get back into his own world.

Truth wondered if it should tell the monk to cross the door again which had been forcibly accessed; in the end Truth was not the only God existing and the man seemed blessed. Others might get angry and the last thing he wanted was to bring destruction upon itself. Then suddenly it hit him and a grin adorned his face blank face, such an opportunity is rare, perhaps unique; Truth decided to help the monk, even though he was excluded from the equivalent exchange… there are other forms of exchange.

"_Maybe there IS something I can do for you!_" It exclaimed with that same wide grin that couldn't be seen.

The monk came out of his meditation and focused is gaze on the divine entity curiously.

"...such as?" All attempts from the Sage had failed so far, he might as well listen to what it had to say.

"_A barter._" Truth said with a bright smile, even though he was dead serious; when Hagoromo didn't speak, truth continued on.

"_I'll take you into the mundane world, however, it will not be the world where you came from ... but it is a world no less, where you can live, grow old and die just like the other humans._" concluded the Truth.

Hagoromo didn't like the tone of the divine being, it smelled too much of a scam of some sort but he let speak all the same; it might be the only option he have to get out of this impossible room. However, the fact that it couldn't get him back into his own world saddened him, even though he didn't have all that many loved ones left. Hideyoshi apart, he did not have many friends, not even a lover and his chief-monk and master Iwao was dead because of Juubi, like so many others he had known and befriended.

"...and what do you want in return?" Asked the Sage cautiously.

Truth's invisible smile became maniacal. "_The minor god in your belly_."

"I'm sorry but no, I can't." Even though it was a polite refusal, it contained a dry derision. The sage had suspected the self-proclaimed God would ask for the Juubi, men had for thousands of years tried to steal the powers of the Gods, who was to say that the Gods would not do the same with their own kind?

"_Are you sure you should refuse?_" Questioned the Truth, still smiling deviously.

"Shinju is the creator of my world." he said firmly "There is nothing that you can offer in exchange for it. I am not so arrogant to think that just because I own his chakra in my belly, its power belong to me. Plus, if I accepted it would be an affront to people who lost their lives in order to imprison him."

"_And what about the lives of others?_" Hagoromo opened his eyes surprised.

"_The prison of the minor deity is your body yes? Then it will find freedom in your death will it not?_" Truth pointed to the Sage, making the man unconsciously nod as he waited for the humanoid being to explain itself.

"_Just as I do not have jurisdiction over you, I have even less power over the minor deity, it seems intrinsically linked to the earthly world…and when you will die, it will pour out over my realm, I cannot prevent it!_"

Understanding what the gods meant he paled significantly.

"_Oh, don't look me like that! It was your fault to come here in the fist place_."

The sage fixed hard a hard glare on the deity that had forced him into corner "You would let it instead destroy the earth and the people who live there? ... do you not value human life at all?" Hagoromo raise his voice with that phrase, angry with the nonchalance of the deity.

"_I already told you! I have no direct power over the minor deity but I can lock it here if you accept... what do you say?_" Truth responded with almost childlike glee, already sensing the man's answer.

He was being forced to choose over a world alien to him, risking the revival of the Ten Tails and he could not do anything to prevent it. The possibility that he might die here were not so scarce, he could die of thirst if he could resist the hunger, and despite his training as a monk, medical techniques and even the chakra of the Juubi, he was still only mortal. How much time he can resist here before death took him? a week? two weeks?

The sage decided then and there.

"I accept, but with one condition; if I find a way to get back in my world then I will take the Ten tails with me… either this or the pact fades."

The truth said nothing, letting its practised smile spreading further across its blank face speak for itself. The stone door form before suddenly opened again showing the eye as well as the black hands that lung back to the Sage's clothes. The eye of the Juubi opened again on his abdomen but this time it made no resistance, as if it had accepted the embrace of the void.

Hagoromo had one last time to see the smile of the God of Truth before the door closed and darkness engulfed him.

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**EDIT: Thanks to my beta-readers Digitize27 and xXSaSuHiNaXx for pointing out some errors and correct my grammar mistakes.**

**In addition, I highly recommend to read the Fanfiction of Digitize27 "Sage" a true martepiece, and "the gentle fist Alchemist" of xXSaSuHiNaXx with Hinata stuck in FMA universe.**

**I hope i did well for the first shot and I'll see you next time.**


	2. Through the door

**I will go very slow in updating the chapters, because my Beta readers are busy with their own things. But do not worry, this story is far from being abandoned.**

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Hagoromo slowly open his eyes as he started to regain consciousness; he raised a hand to cover his face from the blinding light. It beat down on his face like a physical weight and the wind carried with it grains of sand that infiltrated his clothes and hair. Though still suffering from fatigue, the Sage began to rise from the ground into a sitting position.

When he started to focus and roam the new landscape with his eyes he was amazed by what he saw. It was a city, or rather the ruins of what was once a huge city, decorated with massive colonnades of stone and giant arches. Rough stone sculptures, carved with such meticulous precision that they seemed to exude the emotions of the artist that created them, adorned the streets. The houses were made of bricks with several floors; many of them had their roofs collapsed, now adapted to accommodate only animals and climbing plants.

Hagoromo had never seen this type of architecture and wondered what kind civilization might have built this city but the time and the sand seems to have eroded away the ancient beauty, leaving nothing more than piles of rocks, climbing trees and debris scattered on the ground.

When he put his hand on the ground he felt something unusual under his fingers; turning his gaze to the odd soil he froze; Hagoromo stood in the middle of a small crater three meters in diameter, the earth of which was scorched black from the sheer heat of whatever collsion caused it.

The wise man collected his thoughts and then remembered, he remembered his battle against the Bijuu, his sudden arrival in the white limbo; the deity and its sick grin and how the God, using a cunning ploy, snatched the Juubi out of him and throw him into this world.

He then immediately began to check the flow of his chakra in the seal, the Ten Tails chakra was gone, taken by the God of Truth.

Hagoromo sighed heavily and gave one more look at the ghost town ."I hope there are still people here" He whispered to the sand.

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The sun was high in the sky and the heat at that time of day reached prohibitive temperatures, forcing the crawling animals like lizards and insects to hide in the sand and under the rocks. The wind sometimes broke the silence by giving a minimum relief from the scorching heat of the desert.

The ghost town in the middle of the desert was a hostile place for every creature, whoever might try to penetrate it unprepared might die from heatstroke without fist aid; but for the Sage of the Six Path was a mere walk, accustomed to many kinds of desert given his many pilgrimages.

Hagoromo walked through the deserted and dilapidated streets, sometimes stopping to admire the artistic but faded murals throughout the city. He came to what seemed like a large square where two rows of columns were arranged perpendicular to the sides of it with a short flight of steps that led to what he recognized was a throne room of an emperor or ruler of some kind.

But what caught his gaze was the mural on the wall at the end of the room, completely different of the others he saw. It was a design composed of a circle surrounded by the writings of a language that he could not understand; inside the circle there were three Suns in the angles of a pentagon or hexagon and in the centre of it all towered the depiction of a fearsome two-headed dragon.

"It's almost looks like a seal." Thought Hagoromo to himself as he rested a hand on his chin. Even if the other half of the wall was missing, probably eroded over time, the Sage could clearly see the similarities. Having himself created the art of fuinjutsu, he knew well the fundamentals of building a sealing array.

Firstly, It was important to always start from a circle, which symbolized the circle of power and allowed the circulation of chakra; a seal built without it was dangerous because it would eventually lose its control and decay. After establishing the foundation the next step was to create the anchor, the template that defines the use of the chakra as either conversion into elemental chakra, establishing control of some kind, suppression or many others. The last and the most important part of the construction was the meaning given to the seal. The seal of the Juubi for example was made of nine base circles, thirty six different anchors and in his heart the meaning 'Keimusho', or prison.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of quick footsteps behind him. A man with dark skin and red eyes was running towards him brandishing a stick, for some reason attempting to hit him over the head with it. Hagoromo easily avoided the blow by simply leaning slightly to the left; he then raised his right leg and tripped the assailant who made four steps forward before falling to the ground shamefully.

Soon Hagoromo found himself surrounded by a small crowd, all people with red eyes and dark skin. He remained un-intimidated by them though as they barely had enough chakra to live. Maybe they were the locals?

"Sir, would you mind being our hostage to redeem our Promise Land Army of State?" Spoke a man who stepped forward from the crowd; the left side of his face was horribly disfigured but apparently he did not seem to bring any bad intentions.

"The war has taken everything from us, we're just trying to get it back what's ours" He spoke again.

The wandering sage would certainly have listened to the proposal from the person in front of him; his mother taught him the kindness while the head-monk and master Iwao taught him tolerance towards others as well as seeking peaceful solutions from conflict if possible. There was only one small problem … Hagoromo didn't understand a word of what the scarred man had said.

"I'm sorry ... but I did not understand anything of what you said." Hagoromo replied with an apologetic smile.

The scarred man raised his eyebrows and the single eye that remained blinked in confusion; it seemed that not even he understood what Hagoromo had said. The crowd exchanged glances with one another equally puzzled. "Are you a foreigner?" Asked one of the braver amongst the crowd of people.

"Stop it Ryan. This is a disgrace!" Shouted an elderly woman who emerged from the crowd, holding up a stick with a young boy holding onto her left arm.

"Mrs. Shan!"

"Idiot. Can you not longer distinguish pilgrims from the Amestrisiani? Do you want to bring shame to the name of Ishivala?" Scolded the woman; the young boy quickly lowered his head, clearly repenting his actions.

The nun turned her gaze toward the Sage, studying him carefully. The man was wearing sandals and wore a white tunic with long sleeves that hung down to his knees; his under clothes were blue with a belt on the waist and he had silvery-gray hair just like his people, but what stood out among all of it were his eyes. The elderly woman's eyes met those of Hagoromo and by a strange feeling she thought those purple-rimmed eyes not only saw her but through her as well.

"Can you understand my language pilgrim?" Questioned the elder woman staring at him.

The Sage raised an eyebrow and suddenly broke eye contact with her and turned toward the disfigured man. Then he motioned to the Ishivalan to get closer with his hand; Ryan shyly stepped forward. The crowd that had previously been whispering amongst themselves quietened, all of their eyes turning to the man as he gestured again to the young boy.

Hagoromo touched the man's forehead and began to massage the point of the third eye that existed in every human. Between all of his Six Paths the 'Human Path', or Ninegendou was one he used the least, he didn't like to steal the knowledge of others but he had little choice in this situation; the Sage was in a world completely unknown to him and he needed a minimum of information. He decided to 'borrow' only the native language and apologize after that.

Ryan was unsure of what to do, not wanting to invite the wrath of the elderly nun Shan again. Then, as if a great hand had grabbed him and took control of his body, he felt his essence be torn away; completely paralyzed, he could not do anything except stare up into those violet rimmed eyes and that seemed to peer through the maze of his soul.

The process lasted only a few seconds, acquiring knowledge about the English and Ishivala language; Hagoromo quickly broke the connection before it went any further, not wanting to damage his mind. Ryan suddenly felt incredibly tired, as if he had climbed a mountain with his bare hands, and would have fallen from exhaustion when he suddenly felt an arm support from his waist. He immediately noticed that it belonged to the sage who smiled kindly.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion." Hagoromo spoken in perfect Ishivalan.

Shan was taken by surprise, a moment ago they could not understand each other and then, after just touching Ryan, he spoke in their native tongue. She was not the only one to be shocked and soon everyone was watching the monk with baffled expression. "What have you done to him?" Asked Jeshin, her nephew beside her.

"I took a bit of his knowledge; he will have a headache but nothing more. You needn't worry."

"You touched his mind?" Now the old nun was visibly shocked; whoever this person in front of her was, he was definitely out of the ordinary.

"Are you a State Alchemist?" One of Ishivalan raised his voice to shout, causing the crowd around him to begin staring threateningly in his direction; However the Sage, unaffected, continued to smile politely.

"No, I'm not an…Alchemist; just a travelling monk."

"And Why there is a monk in the ruins of Xerses in the middle of a harsh place like the desert?" The nun spoke again. Realizing that the old woman was testing him to see if he was a threat to the people here, Hagoromo tried to be as convincing as possible.

"I'm lost, I have no idea where I am or where this place is, but I do not want to create problems or harm anyone." The others seemed rather doubtful of his testimony, but the old woman decided to give him a chance.

"What's your name monk?" Asked Shan, her polite tone easing some of the tension that had built up over the encounter.

"My name is Hagoromo Otsu-tsuki; it's a pleasure." He answered, still smiling. Shan observed the sage for a couple of seconds before releasing a slightly amused laugh that continued to diffuse the situation.

"What a polite man. My name is Shan and I'm the nun protector of the Ishivalan people here. Now follow me, I'll take you to the curtains."

"Mrs Shan! Is it really safe if…" The nun stopped the voice that spoke out by holding up a hand, knowing what he was going to say.

"Don't be stupid! Don't you see that he doesn't have even a bottle of water? If we leave him to himself he will die. Do you want his death on your conscience?" The man fell silent, knowing full well that they could not contradict the old nun Shan. She was one of the elders before the war of extermination and she even made them leave the country, bringing them to safety in the midst of these ruins.

The wise man followed the woman who started to walk towards the west part of the city. The other villagers around him sulked and stared at him occasionally with curious or suspicious glances. Hagoromo consequently began to analyze them; each one of them had an emotionless look on their face, sure this gave nothing away to the inexperienced eye, but the Sage saw a lot of anger and hidden sadness deep underneath their cold exteriors. Whatever had happened to them had led them to be wary of anyone and everyone.

The group went through several houses until they got to a building larger than all the others; the columns that adorned the entrance lay on the steps, too heavy to be removed. Once inside the group broke apart and each individual headed straight for their wives and children.

Inside it there was a huge room full of large tents made of arranged fabrics and in the middle of it there was a fountain. Each tent had a conical shape with a wide base large enough to accommodate six people and all the tents were secured with sturdy wooden stakes. It was not the most comfortable of places to live but it was one of the few with a domed roof still intact.

"Welcome to our humble abode pilgrim."

The sage looked at the people; the children were playing about, chasing one another around the tents, naturally irritating the elderly as children tended to do. Mothers tried to look after the household chores and were out washing clothes in buckets of water while their husbands helped them as much as possible.

"Were you the native people of this city?"

Shan saddened suddenly, her wrinkled appearing to deepen. "No, we are what remains of the people of the village of Ishival, after the war of extermination forced us to flee and come here."

So they were refugees; each one of them probably having seen some of their loved ones die because of the war. Hagoromo took pity on them; it seems that even in other worlds people could not live with each other peacefully. Then he turned around, attracted by the cries of a child who he recognized as one of those who played a while ago; his mother was beside him trying to comfort him as the boy had fallen and injured his knee. It was nothing serious, just a surface scratch.

Hagoromo came over and knelt in front of the mother with a kindly smile. "Hello ma'am, would you mind if I took a look?" He asked politely to the dark skinned woman, drawing her attention.

"You're a doctor?" Asked the woman, turning to the white haired man; when she met his eyes she winced at seeing his abnormal rippled orbs.

"Not really, but I know how to treat superficial wounds." Said the Sage, ignoring the stare of the woman. He made a short sequence of hand seals, causing his hands to light up in an emerald green glow.

The boy stopped crying and gasped, attracted like a moth to a flame to the almost magical green light surrounding the hands of Hagoromo. He was not the only one as he also had the incredulous stares of other people who were looking closely at the scene. As soon as his hands approached the wound it healed in an instant without even leaving a scar.

"Look Mom! The cut is gone!" Cried the little boy happily.

"I-It's a miracle!" The woman was literally petrified by the shock, staring at the knee of her son while the child smiled at the stranger who had helped drive away the pain.

"Thanks grampa!" A large metaphorical boulder fell on the head of Hagoromo that caused him to immediately fall into a depression due to the many times people confused him for a senior because of his hair. "I'm not old! I'm in the middle of my thirties!" He screamed in his head.

He recovered quickly, noting he was surrounded by curious people.

"Tell me sir, can you cure diseases as well as wounds?" Said a woman with a red fular around his neck, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

The Sage of The Six Path sighed, knowing full well how this was going to end. "Yes, I can do that too."

"Please, my father is confined to bed for three days and did not recover"

"My eye is itching and I don't know why!"

My knee makes a strange clicking sound!"

"I have a terrible back ache, can you take a look?!

"My sore throat is killing me!"

* * *

Hagoromo was sitting on a rock near a meagre little fire, gazing up at the stars in the night that dotted the sky like little pinpricks of light. He was relieved to see the trail of lights that marked the Milky Way and that the constellations were the same as in his world. Observing a stellar body very familiar to him dominate with its silvery light the sky, he could not help but question whether all the worlds were equal between them. Perhaps, the differences of his world were only the history and culture and maybe the genes and yet they have the same problems of race, hatred and war, perhaps those concepts are simply inevitabilities for humanity?

Looking away from the sky, the Sage glanced over with a slight smile to where the Ishivalani were gathered to eat next to a big bonfire; later they brought him food to eat in order to thank him for the care offered to all the people of the village.

"You are just a travelling monk huh? Eh eh." Laughed a very amused old Shan who sat next to him, watching the fire that crackled and burned the wood slowly.

"I'm glad to help in any way I can." Hagoromo said with a peaceful smile.

The old woman turned her gaze toward him with a radiant grin. "People like you should be more numerous; lord knows how this poor world needs them." Said Shan with a hint of regret in her features; she turn to the fire after another moment.

The two ate silently, enjoying the company and the warmth of the fire, which had now completely carbonized the wood.

"Can you tell me what happened to your people? this isn't your home i presume" The wise man asked cautiously, knowing that it was a delicate matter for the woman but he wanted to understand the history of the world he had landed in.

Shan remained silent for a brief moment, looking at her bowl. "We come from a country called Amestris, located beyond the desert." Said the woman "Our village was placed in the south-east area of the country; it's an arid place like this refuge. We lived divided by the state and the presence of the soldiers was unwelcome to many people but at least they tolerated each other." She continued.

"But one day an Amestrisian soldier killed a little girl, we do not know if it was intentional or an accident, but that caused the discontent of the people towards the state and that in turn changed into revolt against the army and soon become the war of extermination Ishial." Hagoromo listened carefully, his Rinnegan eyes glowed in the dark as he observed the old nun.

"Clashes with the army continued for many months, until the supreme commander of the army, King Bradley, decided to send his dogs into the field, the State Alchemists" Her hands started to clench firmly around the bowl.

"It was a massacre." At that moment neither of them dared to say anything, they sat in silence for a moment looking at the fire, which had now burned itself out, until the facial features of the elderly visibly relaxed.

"However, I learned that not all the Amestrisiani are bad people. In fact, thanks to a couple of their doctors we came out alive from that hell; they were good people even though they died by the hate of mine. They were the Rockbell family, may they rest in peace." Concluded the aged woman.

Hagoromo crossed his arms and go back to look at the stars and quickly made a decision. "Can you lend me a map of the continent?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, obviously confused. "What's on your mind young pilgrim?"

Hagoromo returned the gaze and smiled back.

* * *

Hagoromo gratefully took the shoulder strap and put it on his shoulders, inside there was a map of Amestris, a water bottle filled to the brim and a bit of food for the journey; he turned to the crowd of ishivalan that has gathered to greet him.

"Are you sure you want to go to Amestis young pilgrim? If you head west you will come to Xing and they are more tolerant towards immigrants."

"I'm sure. Thank you for your hospitality though." He raised his hand and waved to the survivors of ishival in parting before walking towards the end of the ghost town.

Hagoromo walked through the streets of the city before coming to a stop for a moment to observe the landscape.

At the border of the city with the desert, the streets were almost completely covered with sand, small debris was scattered everywhere and you could see on the horizon a nearly endless sea of sand.

The sage of the six paths was not a person who turned his back to the difficulties or ignored the pain of others. Since he became a monk and began his pilgrimage, he helped everyone who needed it and has spread the teachings of his master.

This world was not the one where he was born and grew up, but he could not ignore it as it was his responsibility to bring the bond of love that his mother started to the whole world. Before leaving however, he needed a crucial thing for his journey. The Sage held up both hands, smiling as the familiar feeling of his Chakra flowing through his body warmed him. He moulded it, separating Yin and Yang as his hands lit up in blue and red flame. Finally he called out the name of a technique he had been famous for in his own world.

"Bambatsu Souzou: Shakujou!" What was merely chakra in his hands quickly congealed, becoming solid and forming a long, sturdy Shakujou out of nothing more than the energy in his body. It was the twin sister of what he left behind in his own world and would be the witness of his journey in this.

Deep down, Hagoromo was thrilled at the chance to explore unknown places and cultures before finding a way back to his home. The wise began to walk deep into the desert while the tinkling golden medallions of his staff echoed across the shifting sand.


End file.
